- to beat or rub stalks of ripe corn or a similar crop either with a hand implement or a machine to separate the grain from the husks and straw
- (transitive) to beat or strike
- (intransitive) often followed by about: to toss and turn; thrash
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
thresh /θrɛʃ/USA pronunciation
v.
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- to separate the grain from (a cereal plant), as by beating with a tool: [~ + object]to thresh the wheat.[no object]spent all day in the fields threshing.
n. [countable]
- the act of threshing.
thresh (thresh),USA pronunciation
v.t.
v.i.
n.
- to separate the grain or seeds from (a cereal plant or the like) by some mechanical means, as by beating with a flail or by the action of a threshing machine.
- to beat as if with a flail.
v.i.
- to thresh wheat, grain, etc.
- to deliver blows as if with a flail.
- thresh out or over. See thrash (def. 8).
n.
- the act of threshing.
- bef. 900; Middle English threschen, thresshen, Old English threscan; cognate with German dreschen, Gothic thriskan; akin to Dutch dorsen, Old Norse thriskja
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
thresh /θrɛʃ/ vb
'threshing' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):